WALLASEY MP Angela Eagle has helped launch a radical new group to shift the Labour Party to the Left by ending Tony Blair's stranglehold on policy.
The Wallasey MP - a government minister until last year - is among 15 backbench MPs who yesterday founded "New Wave" to persuade the Prime Minister to change direction.
The group's manifesto demands a more Left-wing programme at the next election to "transform our society rather than accommodate the Thatcherite legacy".
It calls for policies to tackle inequality, curbs on the extension of market forces into schools and hospitals and an end to support for "neo-colonial US adventures", following the Iraq war.
The ideas will be fiercely resisted by Mr Blair, who believes a Left-wing Labour Party can only help bring the Conservatives back to power.
However, Ms Eagle insisted New Wave was "not a faction" or a "set of cheerleaders" for Gordon Brown, or any other rival to the Prime Minister's leadership.
And she said it would be a "trav-esty" if the group was compared to Militant, the far-left faction of the 1980s, associated with Liverpool council boss Derek Hatton.
Ms Eagle said: "I'm not a rebel and I don't intend to be a rebel. This is not a group within a group like Militant, which was an organisation that didn't have Labour's interests at heart.
"We want to contribute in a beneficial, rather than a confrontational, way in the run-up to the writing of the manifesto for the next election.
"At the moment, policy has been outsourced to think-tanks which are self-appointed from a particular section of society and with no significant left-wing input.
"The Prime Minister has asked for a consultation and we have to make the assumption that he is going to listen to us."
New Wave's ten-point manifesto urges Mr Blair to strengthen ties with the trade unions and to ensure that "rampant individualism does not lead to worse solutions for all".
It demands the "overthrow of market fundamentalist control in international institutions, including the International Monetarist Fund, the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank".
And it insists "collective security" can only be achieved "by a reformed and effective United Nations and not by neo-colonial US adventures".
Lastly, it condemns Labour's "flawed policy forum" and calls for a greater role for the membership in the formation of policy.
The programme reflects rising backbench frustration at the way Labour's policies are drawn up by a small number of unelected advisors around Mr Blair.
The system produced the controversial proposal to create foundation hospitals - opposed by Ms Eagle - which never appeared in the party manifesto at the last election.
The MPs also warn against "the increasing signs of disillusionment and apathy amongst our support-ers".
New Wave's launch comes on the eve of tomorrow's Queen's Speech, which will include a Bill allowing universities to charge "top-up" fees - a proposal opposed by up to 140 Labour MPs.
Mr Blair will also unveil a prospectus of policy ideas for the next election, at which Labour will be seeking a third term in office for the first time in its history.
New Wave's manifesto can be viewed at its website, www.newwavelabour.co.uk/ The group plans to publish further pamphlets and discussion documents.
NEW WAVE LABOUR
THE policy of New Wave Labour is not to have mandates and a rigid policy line. But the group aims to:
* Create social solidarity and fairness.
* Realise that markets have limits.
* Collective provision has a role in maximising human potential.
* Globalisation can work for the benefit of humankind but only with the overthrow of international groups like the World Bank and with peace, stability and fair trade.
* Develop collective security, post-September 11, with a reformed UN and no more "neo-colonial US adventures".
* Have active and broader participation from the electorate.
* Lead public service reform in partnership with the workers.
* Stamp out bigotry and discrimination.
* Strengthen links with trade unions.
* Give a greater role in policy decisions to party membership.
NEW LABOUR
THE aims of the Labour Party, under Tony Blair, include
* Low mortgages and inflation, sound public finances, full employment in every region and long term economic stability.
* 10,000 extra teachers, raise secondary school standards and expand higher education.
* 30,000 extra nurses, 10,000 extra doctors in a reformed NHS, fast treatment and free at the point of use.
* 6,000 extra police recruits and a modern criminal justice system.
* Retain winter fuel payment for pensioners, minimum wage rise to £4.20, raise living standards for all.
* Strong accountable local government, British ideas leading a reformed and enlarged Europe.
* Tackle global poverty and climate change.
MP WHO SCORED A FIRST FOR LABOUR IN WALLASEY
ANGELA Eagle was educated at Formby High School and joined the Labour party when she was 17.
She became the first Labour MP for Wallasey in the 1992 general election and has served on standing committees which covered the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights bill, Jobseekers bill, Broadcasting bill and the 1993 budget.
The 42-year-old has been on the Employment Select Committee, the Members' Interests Select Committee as well the Public Accounts Committee.
She rose to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Environment and Transport after being re-selected at the 1997 General Election.
In September 1997, she came out in public as a lesbian.
After a reshuffle the following year the Wallasey MP was moved to the same position in the Department of Social Security and was then re-elected for the third time in 2001.
Last year she was the innocent victim of a ministerial shake-up following the resignation of transport secretary Stephen Byers. She was dumped despite handling 1,000 parliamentary questions in a year.
Angela has a twin sister, Maria Eagle, who was elected as Labour MP for Liverpool Garston in 1997, making them the first twins to sit in the House of Commons.
